Insulator.



J. P. MALTHANER.

INSULATOR. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 9.

I 965,723.- Patented July 26, 1910.

JOHN FEED MALTHANER, OF CHILLICOTHE, MISSOUR.

INSULATOR.

anavaa.

.specification of Letters 'Patent, l

Patented July 26, 1910..

Application filed May 29, 1909. Serial No. 498,078.

To all whom tt mau concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN FEED MAL- THANER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chillicothe, Livingston county,

Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Insulators, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to insulators 'for use in supporting and seeuring electric wir es, and relates more particularly to that type in which two clamping members are arranged so as to hold the-Wire or wires between them. In devices of this sort heretofere in use, the arrangement of these meinbers has always been such as to require that the wires extend substantially in one and the same direction from the insulator, otherwise sharp turns and bends are made in the Wire which deteriorate and often cause it to break.

The principal obj ec t of the present invention is to devise a simple insulator of the type specified, in which the wires may be run ott' at various angies from the insulator.

Although the invention is capable of use With wires for use .in various arts, it is particularly adapted to the holding of telephone wires and 'especially what are sometimes called drop wires, that is, those wires which lead from 'the telephone line later-ally to the subseribefis instrument in an acent building. \Vith my invention, it is possible to run these laterals in various direetions from the pole from which the lead is taken, without causing injury to the Wire.

In the accomp'anying drawing, I have illustrated a preferred form' of my invcntion in four figures, of which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the two clamping members without the attaching screw; Fig. 2 is a vertical Central section of the same; Fig. 3 is a bottom view o't the ball clamping member; and Fig. i is a side elevation of the complete device illustrating the manner of its support and the arrangenent of the attache'd wires.

Throu hout these figures, like characters reter to .ike parts.

the insulator, as before indicated, comprises two clamping members, a ball member A, and a sociret member B. The latter is preferably cyiindrical in shape and is recessed on its under side so to provide a preferably circular rim 10 which enables the member to contorm rcadily to the curved surface of a telephone pole, in case it is attached to such a support. This member is also provided With a central bore 11 for the passage of a retaining screw 12. Obviously, there are many equivalents for the screw 12 :whichwill readily occur to those skilled in this art. I therefore do not wish to be limited to a screw for the purpose of binding clamping members together and I have used the term in the claims with this understanding of-equivalency. The socket member is also provided With a truncated conical projection 12 extending from the center of its socket. This projection coperates with a Similar recess 13 in the ball A, and the cooperation of the two gives rigidity to the whole device and removes undue pressure from the screw 12. ;The ball A is also provided with a Central bore 14, which is reaned out at its upper end so as to bring' the head of the screw 12 flush with, or slightly below, the upper face of the ball.

.As clearly illustrated in Fig. 3, the under face of the ball A is provided with two grooves 15, 16, which extend throughout that portion of the surface of the-ball which lies within the .socket of the member B and terminate at points slightly beyond the same. Obviously, these grooves may be variously positioned and many equivalents will Suggest themselves to those skilled in this art.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the wires 17, 18, byreason of the easy curves provided by the ball-and-socket arrangement, are free from sharp bends, and as clearly iilustrated by thedotted line position 1.9, they may be readily run ofi' from the insulator at various angles. i

In assenbling the parts and placing the wire or wires in position, either member A or B may be readily rotated about the screw 12, before the same has been screwed home, until the right position is obtaincd, and then upon screwing down the screw 12, all the parts are firnily held in the desired position.

In carrying; out ny invention, it will be appar ent that many aiteratons and modificatiohs may be made in the arrangement ot the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Thus, as before pointed out, the groovesmzy be variously arranged, or equivalent grouping surtaces may be provided for the engagcment of the \vire or wires, the degree of curvature of the two members may be varied as weli as the extent of the curved surtace, and other changes may be made, all Within the scope of the person skilled in the art.

WVhat I Claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. An nsulator comprising ball and socket clamping members having oppositely dis- -posed Wire engaging surfaces, and means for dran'ing said members toward each other into clamping position and for securing the socket member to a suitable support.

2. An insnlator comprising ball and socket clamping members, l one of said members having a groove in its clamping face disposed so as to engage the Wire to be ciamped and press 'it into engagement With the opposing face of the other member, and means for drawing said members toward each other into clanping position and for secnring the socket member to a suitable support.

3. An insnlator comprising ball and socket clamping members, the ball member being grooved on its clamping face so 'as to engage the wre to be clamped and press it mto engagement With the opposing face of the socket member, and means for drawing said members toward each other into clamping position and for secnring the socket member to a snitable support.

4. An insnlatorcomprising ball and socket "Iamping members, the ball member being grooved on its clamping face so as to engage the Wire to be clamped and press it into engagement With the opposing face of the socket member, and a screw extending through said members at substantially right angles to the clamping faces of said members and operative to draw them together and to secnre said socket member to a support..

In \vitness whereof, I herennto sign my name this 24th day of May, 1909.

JOHN FRED MALTHANER.

`Witnesses F. DOUGHERTY,

C. L. XVAITE. 

